Come Clean: Say It Like You Mean It
by imakeeper
Summary: Hiatus!Harry has always been the quiet, humble, and righteous boy. The influence of one person is going to completely change his outlook on life and give him the one thing the dark lord knows not...
1. A life of tragedy and suffering

Harry James Potter grew up in a normal neighborhood. There were green lawns, playgrounds with kids, postmen, strays, etc. But in this world of normalcy, the occupants of Privet Drive had no idea what was hiding behind the doors of the Dursley family's house.

Vernon Dursley, an ambitious worker at a drill manufacturing company always seemed to push people the wrong way. Everything would always start the same. He would get along with people fine and then out of nowhere it would all end. Vernon's sheer size alone was enough to intimidate many of the neighbors.

Petunia Dursley on the other hand got along well with the neighbors. She enjoyed embellishing her stories to her neighbors. Vernon brought in a decent paycheck each week to have her fit in with the other ladies of the street just fine. Her house was always cleaner than the others, but she would never tell them how. While she had many likable attributes, one in particular bothered the other housewives, the fact that she resembled a horse more closely than she did to a human being.

Dudley Dursley had the worst traits of his parents. This plump boastful boy enjoyed picking on the younger children of the area. He was well hated by everyone, but no one would admit it, not even his so called friends.

That's all there is to the Four Privet Drive. Well that's all there is that is supposedly normal. Unbeknownst to many, the fourth and final resident of Four Privet Drive was far from what they believed he was.

Harry James Potter was the same age as his cousin, but as different as could be. While Dudley was fat and obnoxious, Harry was skinny and far too polite and quiet for a boy his age. The Dursley's had led the neighborhood to believe that Harry's parents were no good people that had left their no good son on the step of two amazing people that decided to keep him.

As much as the occupants of Privet Drive disliked the Dursley's, they despised Harry even more. He was a troubled child from the beginning. Troubled couldn't even begin to describe the fourth and final occupant of the Dursley household. While the community believed that "the unruly Potter boy" was soon to be attending St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys, he was in fact about to embark on one of the most amazing experiences in his life.

Little did he know that many lives were going to change… some for the better and some for the worse? It's hard to say how everything will lead our young hero for every choice there is two decisions…

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A/N

Hey this is a two-version story. It's going to be the same for the most part. There will be some changes around second/ possibly third year. So for now it will be basically the same story posted twice. The romance in this version will get heavy prob around third year and will drift further away from canon han "A public affair." One version is slash while the other is not. The two titles for the series are:

1) Come clean: say it like you mean it (Harry and male character)

2) A public affair: we don't need to whisper (Harry and female)


	2. And so the story truly begins

The best surprises come in the smallest packages. Little did they know, how accurate that statement would be? The youngest and smallest member of the Dursley household was about to arise from his messy "bed"—if you could even call it that. Young Harry Potter was about to celebrate his eleventh birthday in a matter of says and no one took any notice. That is except for one pair of eyes hardened by the backlash of war. These eyes had kept watch over the young lad for many years. And if that pair of eyes was unable, there were another that often stood in their place. They lurked in the shadows of the newest cars, perfect hedges, and fragrant flowerbeds, but made sure to stay clear of the well manicured lawns that even magic could not compete with.

The day began as any other day for young Harry . The sun had not even risen yet. The moon was beginning to dip towards the horizon to escape the artificial perfection of Little Whining. The people were as fake to their neighbors as were their hair color. This peaceful suburb is located in Surrey, some distance from where the fate of the world would begin to be determined once again.

The scratching sounds of someone writing were drowned out by the sounds of a most unpleasant guest. Meanwhile the smallest resident of Number Four Privet Drive was busy preparing his relatives breakfast and cleaned the kitchen while waiting for the time to turn over the eggs and bacon. Harry's stomach began to make noises, but he knew that he would have to live with that. They would know, they always did.

As Harry turned off the faucet and turned on the stove for the kettle, he could hear the sound of the shower running. That meant that his whale of an uncle would be down. The bottoms of his horse-faced aunt's shoes were clicking off of the stairs. As the crackling of the pan reached its highest Harry knew that his pig of a cousin would come running down. And sure enough Dudley was down in no time at all. The sheer speed of his arrival to the kitchen was remarkable considering the sheer mass the blonde pig possessed on his body.

As he watched his relatives eat, he had to suppress his hunger with every ounce of his energy, If he did not there would be no food for him at all. A growl of his stomach and he would be sent off to the cupboard under the stairs. After patiently waiting for them to finish it was now time to wash away the dishes and throw away to the scraps. The Dursley's thought they were too good for leftovers so they had Harry throw away the food, or so they thought. Besides eating the burnt pieces of toast and bacon, Harry would often get to eat the remaining bits of breakfast that the horse, pig, and whale snubbed their noses at. This is the one meal that he was guaranteed for it was the only meal his Aunt Petunia would refuse to make since he was tall enough to reach the stove.

The Dursley's were the type of people that thought anyone not part of the white picket fence stereotype didn't deserve to live. But they never did realize that three people that act, look, and behave like animals don't exactly fit that mold either. Their cruel treatment of Harry had caused him to be the complete opposite of what he would be if he lived elsewhere. The cruel, sadistic, and inhumane abuse he was pelted with day in and day out had caused Harry to become a very shy boy that was quite the loner, but also very humble and good natured, though the neighborhood knew him as the troubled boy on account of his relatives.

Some weird things had being occurring within the last few years. One time his Aunt Petunia tried to cut his hair off after countless trips to the barber were deemed useless because Harry's hair always looked the same. Petunia hacked his hair off almost to the scalp. Harry didn't want to go to school looking like that the next day at any cost. The entire night he was terrified of what the other children would stay. The entire night he remained focused on wishing that his hair would be back to normal. The next morning really started to turn the tables. His hair was back to normal. This was the first step of the Dursley's treatment of Harry turned for the worse.

The next strange occurrence was when Harry was in school. It was during recess and Dudley's crew was chasing after him. He was exhausted and they were catching up, which was quite the feat for them, considering how fat all of them were. Harry ended up in a dead end and knew they would be catching up soon and corner him before he was be covered head to toe in bruises and scrapes. He closed his eyes ready to be attacked and when he opened them he found himself on the rooftop.

His ribs and ankles were often the targets. The teachers thought it was child abuse, which is was, but lied and said Harry was taking karate in London. It was a farfetched story, but it was never verified After a while the teachers gave up. Some of them realized how talented Harry was. Some were blissfully aware that Harry had to stay stupid to avoid getting beaten up at home.

The most recent vent involved Harry and a boa constrictor at the zoo. Mrs. Figg was unable to watch Harry so Harry joined the Dursley's and Dudley's friend Piers to the zoo. The ice cream man made a big deal because Vernon initially refused to get Harry anything. Harry eventually got the cheapest thing, an lemon ice lolly. They never did notice that the linger glares the man was shooting in their direction before he disappeared. Anyway Harry trailed behind everyone. When they made it to the reptile house Harry ended up taking to the snake and making the glass disappear, The zoo called it an accident on the staff's faults, but the Dursley's knew very well that Harry caused it.

This morning was going to change Harry's life forever. After the table was cleared and the kitchen cleaned, Harry went out to get the post from the post man. He always came at the same exact time So Harry was quite surprise to see a piece of post addressed:

MR. H. POTTER

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4, Privet Drive,

Little Whinging,

SURREY

That glimmer of happiness did not last long… but the intrigue multiplied…

!#$&()

Author's Note

I am slightly changing the canon around a bit from this point. I am not sure if I am going to replace Hagrid or just have a second person involved. I am thinking about making a muggleborn trip to Diagon Alley that day…

I am not a huge fan of Hagrid, Ron, or Dumbledore… so who knows what is going to happen soon. I am going to try my best to update sooner to the best of my ability. I wrote this last week and this was the first chance I got to post it. I hope you enjoy it.

The sad thing is that I already wrote the ending to the story… well a possible ending…

I am going to try to use british English like lolly instead of ice pop. If I make slip ups I do apologize. If I am going to redo the books I mine as well do it right by using British English and not American English even though I am American and most readers are most likely American.


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